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Fulham welcome Huddersfield ~ Ch. Match Preview MD04

last updated Friday 21st August 2015, 6:12 PM


Fulham Football Club



Fulham Manager Kit Symons
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Fulham welcome Huddersfield Town to Craven Cottage on Saturday, as both sides look to pick up their first wins of the Championship season.

The teams finished in the lower reaches of the table last season, but neither have looked like moving away from the bottom during the opening weeks of the new campaign.

Fulham can count themselves a little unfortunate to be down in 21st place, as late goals have cost them valuable points.

Kit Symons's side conceded a late equaliser against Cardiff City on the opening day, before a 94th-minute penalty from Brighton & Hove Albion rescued them a draw at the Cottage last weekend.

The West Londoners were on course for a point at Hull City in midweek after Tom Cairney had cancelled out Ahmed Elmohamady's opener at the KC Stadium, but Sone Aluko struck in the 86th minute to earn the Tigers all three points.

Symons has had a tough job on his hands since taking charge last season, as the club continues to recover from their relegation from the Premier League.

Several high earners have departed and in return, the Fulham boss has brought in several experienced Championship campaigners, including Andy Lonergan, Tom Cairney and Ben Pringle.

They look a solid outfit under the Welshman but he will be looking for them to show more resilience, especially in the face of the late goals that they have been conceding recently.

Huddersfield have made a slow start to the season, drawing two and losing one of their opening three games.

After failing to impress in the first two games of the campaign, Chris Powell's side put in an improved showing at home to Brighton & Hove Albion in midweek and earned themselves a deserved share of the spoils.

Biram Kayal gave the visitors the lead after just 16 seconds of play, but the Terriers responded and looked to take the game to Chris Hughton's side. Huddersfield levelled matters in the second half as Jacob Butterfield fired home from an acute angle to give Powell's men a point.

The Terriers have found goals hard to come by so far, netting four times and conceding six. They lost the creative talent of Conor Coady to Wolverhampton Wanderers and it has shown.

Despite having decent firepower in the form of Nakhi Wells and James Vaughan in attack, they have struggled to create chances for the pair and this could cost them over the course of the campaign.

They have also lost another key player this week, with goalkeeper Alex Smithies joining Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed fee.

    Head-to-head

  • There has been little to separate the two sides from their 62 meetings, with Huddersfield winning 25 times, Fulham 23 with 14 draws.


  • Last season's meetings went the way of Fulham, with the Cottagers winning 3-1 at home last November before winning the return fixture 2-0 at the John Smith's Stadium.


  • Fulham have won their last five league meetings with Huddersfield, scoring two or more goals in each game (13 goals).


  • Huddersfield are winless in seven against Fulham (D2 L5), after winning the three previous to this run.



  • Fulham


  • Fulham have recorded just one victory in their last seven games at Craven Cottage (D2 L4), failing to keep a clean sheet (20 goals conceded).


  • Lasse Vigen Christensen has assisted in consecutive games for the fourth time since October 2014.


  • Fulham have won 45%, drawn 20% and lost 35% of their last 20 home games.


  • In their last 20 home games, 23 of the 36 goals scored by Fulham have come from forwards, 7 from midfielders and 6 from defenders.


  • Fulham have conceded in 75% of their last 20 home games.


  • Fulham have scored in 85% of their last 20 home games.


  • Fulham last kept a clean sheet at home 8 games ago.



  • Huddersfield


  • Huddersfield's Nahki Wells has scored in just one of his last 19 away games for the Terriers (two versus Ipswich in October 2014).


  • Huddersfield have won 20%, drawn 40% and lost 40% of their last 20 away games.


  • Huddersfield have scored 1 goal or less in 15 of their last 20 away games, going on to win 2, draw 6 and lose 7 of these matches.


  • In their last 20 away games, 13 of the 19 goals scored by Huddersfield have come from forwards, 4 from midfielders and 2 from defenders.


  • In their last 20 away games, 74% of the 19 goals scored by Huddersfield have come in open play, whilst 26% have come from set-pieces.


  • Huddersfield have conceded in 75% of their last 20 away games.
























Source Steven Toplis at SportsMole/BBCSports/KickOff
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